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Period: to
1800-1860 USA
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Jefferson is elected.
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John marshall elected cheif justice of the supreme court.
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Alien and Sedition Acts are allowed to expire by Congress
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LOUISIANA TERRITORY is purchased from France for $15 million,nearly doubling the size of the U.S.
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. Jefferson is re-elected president and George Clintonelected vice pres. (Dem-Rep)
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BARBARY WAR ENDS after U.S. troops capture Darna.Piracy by Barbary States continues until 1815.
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Lewis and Clark expedition ends with return toSt. Louis
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BAN ON SLAVE TRADE (importation of slaves) ispassed by Congress, as required by the Constitution
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. James Madison elected president and George Clinton reelectedvice president (Democratic-Republican).
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Embargo Act is repealed; Congress allows trade with all countries except France and Britain.Abraham Lincoln is born (16th president, 1861-1865).
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THIRD CENSUS: U.S. population totals 7.2 million, including 1.4 millionAfrican Americans, of whom 1.2 million are enslaved; population west ofAppalachian Mountains is 1 million.
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First steamboat journey is completed (Pittsburgh to New Orleans via Ohio and Mississippi Rivers).
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WAR OF 1812 begins as U.S. declares war on Great Britain over issues of borders, trade,freedom of the seas, and the rights of neutrals. In general, the war is supported by westernersand opposed by New Englanders. Indians under Tecumseh fight on the side o
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. Madison is re-elected president and Elbridge Gerry elected
vice president (Democratic-Republican). -
U.S. defeats British in the Battle of Lake Erie and the Battle of the Thames (in whichTecumseh is killed). British seize Fort Niagara, burn Buffalo, NY, and blockade coastal ports.
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war of 1812 ends
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Gen. Andrew Jackson defeats British at the Battle of New Orleans (two weeks after signing ofthe Treaty of Ghent
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. James Monroe and Daniel Tompkins areelected president and vice president (Democratic-Republican).
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FIRST SEMINOLE WAR begins with attacks on settlers in Florida & Georgia.
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Paul Revere dies in Boston at age 84 (born 1735).
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MCCULLOCH V. MARYLAND. Supreme Court upholds right of federal government to chartera national bank, thus affirming its implied powers beyond those stated in the Constitution
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FOURTH CENSUS: U.S. population totals 10 million, including 1.7million African Americans, of whom 1.5 million are enslaved; populationwest of Appalachian Mts. is 2.2 million. 6% of Americans live in cities
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Missouri enters the Union as 24th state under theMissouri Compromise (slave state).
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Slave rebellion led by Denmark Vesey is crushedin Charleston, South Carolina.
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Cotton mills begin production in Lowell, Massachusetts, with water-powered machinery.
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: None of the four candidates receives majority of electoralvotes; John Calhoun is elected vice president (Democratic-Republican).
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John Quincy Adams (Natl. Rep.) is elected president by House of Rep.
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John Adams & Thomas Jefferson die on July 4, the 50th anniversary of theDeclaration of Independence.
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California becomes a Mexican province
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“Tariff of Abominations” is passed by Congress to intense hostility from Southern states.
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Andrew Jackson introduces spoils system into national politics.
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FIFTH CENSUS: U.S. population totals 13 million, including 2.3 millionAfrican Americans, of whom 2 million are enslaved. Population west of theAppalachian Mountains is 3 million, more than 25% of the U.S. population.
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NAT TURNER’S REBELLION (Virginia): about 60 white people killed. Turner is executed.William Lloyd Garrison founds first abolitionist periodical The Liberator in Boston.Reaper is invented by Cyrus McCormick (patented in 1834).
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Jackson is re-elected presidentand Martin Van Buren elected vice president (Democratic).
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Force Bill is passed by Congress, giving Jackson power to use the militaryto enforce tariff laws.
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Andrew Dorr issues “An Address to the People of Rhode Island.”
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TEXAS REVOLUTION begins when Mexico rejects Texans’ petition for statehood;Gold is found on Cherokee land in Georgia; Cherokees are forced to cede land.Seminole Indians in Florida begin seven-year war to resist forced removal to the West.Alexis de Tocquev
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Gag rule is passed by Congress to prevent abolitionist petitions from being considered.Texas declares independence from Mexico;Gag rule is passed by Congress to prevent abolitionist petitions from being considered.Texas declares independence from Mexico;
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Panic of 1837 leads to collapse of many early labor unions.
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“TRAIL OF TEARS”: Cherokees are forcibly removed from Georgia to IndianTerritory in present-day Oklahoma.
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Slaves aboard slave ship L’Amistad rebel. Slaves are freed bythe U.S. Supreme Court in 1841 and returned to Africa.
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: William Henry Harrison andJohn Tyler are elected president and vice president (Whig Party).
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Harrison dies after one month in office; John Tyler becomes president.
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Supreme Court rules that state laws prohibiting the capture and return offugitive slaves are unconstitutional (Prigg v. Pennsylvania).
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Massachusetts passes law forbidding state officials from catching fugitive slaves.
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: James Polk and George Dallas electedpresident and vice president (Democratic Party)
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Frederick Douglass publishes Narrative of the Life of an American Slave.
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Iowa enters Union as 29th state.
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U.S. forces defeat Mexican army at Veracruz and Mexico City.
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Zachary Taylor and Millard Filmore elected president andvice president (Whig Party).
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Thoreau publishes “Civil Disobedience.”
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SEVENTH CENSUS: U.S. population totals 23.2 million, including 3.5 millionAfrican Americans, of whom 3 million are enslaved.
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John Calhoun delivers “A Disquisition on Government.”
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Franklin Pierce and William King are electedpresident and vice president (Democratic Party).
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Sara Payton Willis Parton publishes Fern Leaves from Fanny’s Portfolio.
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KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT passed by Congress, repealing the MissouriCompromise and allowing Kansas and Nebraska settlers to decide status ofslavery in the territories.
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“BLEEDING KANSAS”: Intense local warfare erupts between pro- and anti-slavery settlers.Walt Whitman anonymously publishes Leaves of Grass.
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: James Buchanan and John Breckenridge are elected presidentand vice president (Democratic Party).
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DRED SCOTT DECISION: Supreme Court holds that Congress has no powerto regulate slavery in the territories, that African Americans are not citizens, andthat residence in free territory does not confer freedom on enslaved persons.
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Minnesota enters Union as 32nd state.
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Oregon enters Union as 33rd state.
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin are elected presidentand vice president (Republican).